Lovers of the nightlife have a great range of choices amid the remarkable density of concert venues in our compact city, but there’s always room for more. If you’re a band and you’re dying to share your music with someone other than your roommates or if you’re a concert-goer who simply can’t show your face at Geno’s for the third night in a row, then we here at the Phoenix humbly offer you this sampling of New England venues just waiting for you to show up and show them how we do it on the Peninsula.
You could probably walk to a gig at the NORTH DEERING GRANGE HALL if you put your amp in a Radio Flyer wagon. The spot on outer Washington Avenue is by no means a professional venue, but is the perfect place for like-minded bands and fans to get together with a little help from an enthusiastic promoter. The Grange Hall scene is dominated by the hardcore-ish and screamier-o spectrum of the music scene, but anyone’s welcome; the folks playing are just the ones with their acts together.
There’s also the WINDHAM VETERANS HALL right off the main drag in our dear neighboring town. To the south, there’s the ATLANTIC HALL in Kennebunk. Acta Non Verba recall playing there for a golden year of consistently packed all-ages shows in the unlikely venue’s heyday. Is this a summer-of-love-style flash in the pan, now dwindling, or a hotspot ready to be rekindled?
Tap into the vast unnatural resource of post-industrial warehouse space and give Bangor’s THE UNDERGROUND a try. The Outer Hammond spot hosts all ages, chem-free DIY events in an intimate setting for the kids to scream their heads off. The likes of the Killing Moon, the Symmetry, Sparks the Rescue, and Cambiata have all damaged many an eardrum since the venue opened its doors in 2005.
Across the border in our twin city of Portsmouth (we look nothing alike, but we both like the color “brick”) is the great gift of THE RED DOOR. Manager Cresta Smith somehow makes a martini bar the coolest thing in the world, in part by providing a cozy ambience and consistently good music, thanks to booking agent Jay Boucher. The “Hush Hush Sweet Harlot” music series makes a Monday night road trip worth your time by providing living room performances from the likes of Tiger Saw, Soltero, and our own Seekonk and Phantom Buffalo.
Facing a dearth of venues, Portsmouth’s ingenious scenesters kick our city’s ass when it comes to HOUSE PARTIES. If you want to play or see a show in Portsmouth, the best thing you could do is make friends with a native. That way you’ll always have a new concert story about the cops showing up or taking part in stairwell sing-alongs.
Portsmouth has a red door; Burlington has THE GREEN DOOR. The South End artist-run studio is a pit stop for many of the acts you would expect to see at Strange Maine and its creed. Sounds from the center of the Earth and outer space meet with socially engaged visual art.
Despite its larger size, the Vermont destination feels like vacation village, perhaps because its inhabitants are . . . (ahem) mellower. TICK TICK is changing all that with what they describe as “the infinite boundless energy” of youth. The Burlington screen-printing collective hosts shows in their Marble Street studio.
Places to play in the Boston area merit another article entirely (or perhaps a simple perusal of our sister publication). One bar-club worth mentioning due to its free-market booking policies is Somerville’s P.A.’S LOUNGE, right by Union Square. Basically, you better get people through the door if you want to get paid. The result of this judicious mentality is a constant stream of bands, including Boston psych-gems like Major Stars and Headband. And our own Satellite Lot will be dropping by there in late March . . .
Dear Western Massachusetts, thank you for being a haven to freak-folkers and noise-makers across New England. Try Northampton’s IRON HORSE for native Massachusetts groups like Apollo Sunshine, Winterpills, and our esteemed Portland exports, Spouse. For a more subterranean evening, THE FLYWHEEL ARTS COLLECTIVE in Easthampton provides an endless stream of folk, thrash, punk, and indie rock to entertain and educate.
Does your musical taste frighten small children and practicing Christians? Then Bucksport’s THE CAVE is for you, with a reputation for treating musicians like human beings and providing a great sound system for the most demanding of hardcore metal bands.
MJ’S TAVERN in Brunswick has two things going for it: a relaxed atmosphere and a town full of people dying for live music. Portland favorites Citadel and The Baltic Sea recently rocked the Maine Street bar and reported an “ego-less” evening of rock devoid of hipster posturing.
Portland’s pure-of-heart emcee SayLove has good things to say about a benefit show up in Gardiner for the JOHNSON HALLOPERA HOUSE, which is in serious need of renovation to get the historic building up to arts-entertainment snuff. Seems like Gardiner is a good meeting point for sprouting hip-hop performers in Augusta (Lil’ Dynomite), Portland (SayLove, A-Frame), and Waterville (Uncommon Courtesy). Johnson Hall looks like it’s more interested in The Wicked Good Band and similarly tame acts for older folks, but maybe a couple more shows of truth-telling hip hop will change their mind.
Now go play
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Ian Paige: ianpaige@gmail.com
